The Unthinkable
by Softkitty55
Summary: The Pritchett-Dunphy-Tucker clan experiences every family's worst nightmare on Halloween 2018. What if someone even more significant than DeDe unexpectedly loses their life on that fateful night? Warning: Not for the faint-hearted and also, I do not own Modern Family, it belongs to Christopher Lloyd and Steve Levitan.


**Hi readers! This is my very first Modern Family fanfic so please do not bite! Also this is an alternative version of "Good Grief", which this time a major, and I do actually mean a major character (not a secondary character like DeDe) dies and it definitely won't be someone you expect. So, prepare to be shocked and please do enjoy this as well.**

Phil and Claire Dunphy vigorously prepared for their latest elaborate display before the first trick-or treaters would arrive as they did every Halloween. The sun was quickly setting and time was running out.

"Okay honey, the doorbell's installed!" Phil Dunphy announced as he hooked a bright green eyeball shaped doorbell.

"How does it sound?" Claire asked, clad in a black and red spider costume.

Phil pressed the doorbell and it yelled in a menacing, deep voice: "WELCOME TO HELL!"

Maniacal laughter sounded seconds later. Claire let out a smile.

"That's so cute! Can you come help me with this web?" she requested.

"Sorry, gotta fly! I'm gonna do that one again when there's more people around." Phil joked as he found himself caught into the huge handmade spiderweb attached to the front door, dressed as a fly.

"I'm caught!" he yelled.

"Don't pull!" Claire hollered, struggling to release her prey from the fake web.

As she went to fetch some scissors from the kitchen, her phone suddenly rang.

Claire tried to grab her phone as fast as she could whilst battling the fake legs that were attached to her costume. Once Claire finally caught it, she quickly glanced

at the screen to see her father's number. She answered just in the nick of time.

"Hey dad- what's up?" she asked, slowly moving back into the foyer.

"Claire... an accident happened today..." Jay's voice shakily replied.

"Oh my God, what happened?" she asked, feeling anxious.

"It's... it's... Manny..."

Claire loudly gasped and Phil froze in his spot.

Weak, garbled sniffling could be heard.

"Manny and his girlfriend got into a car accident on their way to a Halloween party.." Jay replied in a weak, broken voice.

Claire could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she put the phone on speaker mode.

"Are they okay?" Phil shouted from afar.

The sniffling grew louder.

"According to the police, they were hit by some drunk driver. Sherry had moderate injuries and is expected to recover..."

A sick feeling started to emerge in both Claire and Phil.

"What about Manny? Dad, please tell me that he's okay!" she frantically demanded, fearing the worst.

"N-no. His injuries were far worse. Manny was rushed to the hospital and...and... he died in the ambulance..."

Claire dropped the phone in pure shock, not knowing how to react. Phil managed to wiggle his way out of the web to console his wife. Haley, Alex, and Luke all rushed down the stairs with horrified and confused looks etched on their faces upon hearing the tragic news.

"I-I can't believe Manny's gone..." Alex tearfully muttered, tightly grabbing Haley's shoulder.

"Me neither. It's just... just can't be true..." Luke robotically replied, appearing to be dazed.

The Dunphy daughters both embraced their parents, sobbing. Luke joined in shortly afterwards, not shedding a single tear. Deep down he wanted to cry along with the rest of his family, but he wanted to stay strong for his sisters. For Manny.

Mitch and Cam Pritchett-Tucker received the news a few minutes later while at their longtime friend Pepper Saltzman's Halloween party. They, along with Lily fled the party immediately fled the party and drove to the Dunphy household in disbelief and shock. Once they arrived, the Pritchett-Tuckers quickly leapt out of their car to enter inside. Cam rang the eyeball-shaped doorbell which once again screamed: "WELCOME TO HELL!"

Cam flinched at the sound in surprise.

"Oh, that's so fitting." Mitch sarcastically remarked as Phil answered the door.

"Sorry about that. I forgot to turn it off..." he sadly sighed as he uninstalled the voice.

"Oh my God, Claire," Mitch cried as he ran towards Claire and tightly embraced her.

They hugged each other for a long time, both quietly crying and grieving the loss of their young stepbrother.

"W-who are you supposed to be?" Claire stammered, finally breaking the silence.

"Uh, I'm Prince Harry..." Mitch feebly replied as he let out a loud sniffle.

"Oh does that mean-?"

Before Claire could finish her question, Lily marched towards them, wearing a British royal guard costume.

"Hear ye, hear! Presenting you-"

Cam, clad in a mauve dress and derby hat walked from behind and cut her royal guard spiel, clearly dressed as Meghan Markle.

"We're not doing that anymore. Go console your cousins." he told her as he also hugged Claire.

"Who needs a drink?" Mitch asked.

"I do." Claire responded as she grabbed a large sample of the homemade punch.

She aggressively chugged down her drink and Mitch grabbed a cup of his own.

"It just feels inappropriate- being dressed like this. I should be be in something darker with a cap sleeve." Cam added, looking at his costume in guilt.

"How were we supposed to know that this would happen? This is so surreal..." Mitch stated, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

"I-I can't believe this either. He had such a bright future ahead of him..." Claire answered, also tearing up again.

"When should we go to your dad's place?" Phil asked.

Claire and Mitch exchanged looks.

"Whenever he's ready. Dad's devastated beyond words and he told me that Gloria won't come out of their room since hearing the news. But, he still wants us all to come sometime tonight." Mitch explained as the doorbell sounded.

Phil quickly handed some candy to the large group of trick-or-treaters and slammed the door shut as soon as they left. The youngest family members sat in the living room in silence. Only the sound of Haley spraying a can of whipped cream directly in her mouth could be heard.

"Seriously Haley?" Alex snapped in disgust.

Haley rolled her eyes and loudly grunted.

"Oh my God, why do you have to criticize everything I do?! I'm depressed and starving- oh, my burrito's ready!" the eldest Dunphy daughter retorted as she darted out of the room to grab her burrito from the microwave.

Luke quietly sat next to Alex, busily texting someone.

"Hey, who are you texting so much?" Lily questioned with a slight smirk.

"None of your business. Just leave me alone." he curtly replied, still looking down at his iPhone.

"Secretive, huh?" Lily remarked.

Luke's pale face reddened.

"I said LEAVE ME ALONE!" he screamed as he stormed off to his room.

About a couple hours later, Jay finally gained the strength to invite the rest of the family to his home. The two families drove in their respective cars. Despite only living a few minutes away, the drive seemed like an eternity for both the Dunphys and the Pritchett-Tuckers. Each ride was eerily silent, with no one uttering a word. Luke noticed Alex creating a lengthy memorial post dedicated to Manny on Facebook. On top of the post was a selfie of her and Manny at his high school graduation ceremony.

"How happy we were," Alex sadly thought to herself, wiping some tears underneath her glasses.

Luke turned away only a few seconds after seeing Alex's post. He could not bear to look at the heartwarming words typed on his sister's phone or Manny's round, smiling face. He just could not believe any of it.

The two families reached to the somber Pritchett-Delgado residence. The Halloween decorations were still intact and all of the lights were dimly lit inside. A half-empty plastic bowl filled with candy was on the doorstep along with a post-it note which read in black sharpie: TAKE THE CANDY, DO NOT RING

Haley crotched down towards the bowl and Alex aggressively nudged her in the shoulder.

Jay answered the door clad in a Joe DiMaggio costume. His eyes were red and puffy from the excessive crying. His face appeared to be pale and disheveled. Once everyone was inside, he tightly hugged his two children, sobbing furiously. The sight of Jay's crying shocked all of the grandchildren. None of them had ever seen him cry this hard.

"Where's Gloria?" Phil wondered out loud.

Jay let out a heavy sigh.

"She's still in the bedroom. She just won't come out, no matter how many times I convince her. I'll try again now..."

The entire family could hear Gloria loudly sobbing from upstairs and screaming in Spanish. Stella bolted towards the door, presumably looking for Manny. She let out a few loud barks. After not seeing him walk in, she let out a sad whimper and slowly walked away. Joe walked in, dressed as Batman. His eyes were also reddened and wet.

"I miss Manny so much. I want him home." he whimpered, tightly grabbing Jay's hand.

"We all do." Claire replied.

Jay and Joe slowly walked up the stairs hand-in-hand to reach the master bedroom. Jay gently knocked the locked door.

"Gloria, the rest of the family's here," he whispered.

"I AM NOT LEAVING ANYTIME SOON! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! I DON'T WANT TO SEE ANYBODY!" she roared in her thick Columbian accent which made Joe slightly tremble.

Father and son joined the rest of the surviving relatives who were all quietly gathered into the living room, comforting each other or crying. They sat on the dark leather couch and armchairs which surrounded the wooden coffee table. A small orange pumpkin, two small white tea candles, a framed copy of Manny's senior year picture, and one of his black fedoras decorated the table. Haley grabbed a handful of leftover Doritos and candy from the kitchen.

"Just to let you all know that Gloria and I are flying to New York tomorrow morning along with Javier and Trish to see Manny and to make sure that he comes back with us." Jay explained, trying his best not to cry.

"We can watch Joe if you want." Cam offered.

"That would be great, thanks..." Jay responded, looking at the floor.

"Hey guys, I have an idea. Tonight may be Halloween but I was thinking that this will a very good time to remember Manny." Mitch suggested as everyone else nodded with agreement.

Jay turned Mary Poppins on the TV which was not only one of Manny's favorite movies, it also served him as a coping mechanism while Gloria was at her late night job before Jay entered into their lives. While the family watched the movie, the surviving members of the Pritchett-Dunphy-Tucker clan reminisced the young Latino romantic.

"Wow, I totally forgot that Dick Van Dyke's got some amazing dance moves," Cam remarked as he watched Bert dance with the animated penguins on the TV.

"Yeah, so did Manny..." Jay sighed, remembering the time when Manny tried to teach him salsa dancing.

"Apparently I looked like I was invading Poland when I first danced."

Everyone laughed weakly.

"I was there that day and Manny was right. You really were marching as if you were conquering a country." Mitch added with a weak smile.

Haley rose from her spot to grab more food from the kitchen and no one seemed to notice.

"I also remember you telling me about that Hamilton parody video when he applied for Juilliard's. Can we all watch it now?" Cam said with a grin, trying to be somewhat optimistic.

"Not now- I'm not ready to watch it yet. By the way it's a homage, not a parody," Jay sternly corrected, gently stroking Stella's fur.

Haley sat back down with another handful of Doritos.

"Manny was so mature and sophisticated for his age. He was such a great big brother to Joe. And not to mention he was such a great friend to Luke- I mean they were inseparable for as long as they knew each other." Phil added.

"YEAH! Manny was an awesome big brother to me! He was so funny and he loved to play with me!" Joe innocently piped up, putting on the black fedora on top of his tiny head.

Jay weakly smiled for only a split second, before choking up again at the sight of his youngest son wearing the fedora and smiling.

"Not to mention he was quite the romantic." Mitch further added.

Haley quickly swallowed the food down her mouth.

"Oh yeah, I still feel horrible calling him a perv." she blurted out, unwrapping a small green lollipop.

The rest of the family looked at her with shock and disgust.

"Come on! Why does everyone looked so stunned?! You all know that he had feelings for me for a while!"

"Haley Gwendolyn Dunphy! Can we please say only nice things about your step-uncle tonight?" Claire angrily shouted.

A loud, agonized scream suddenly sounded from outside. Everyone quickly noticed that Luke was nowhere to be found, completely forgetting about Haley's crude remark. They darted towards the backyard to find him standing near the pool, tightly clutching his phone and finally releasing his emotions.

"ANSWER THE GODDAMN PHONE DELGADO! THIS ISN'T FUNNY ANYMORE!" he screamed as he violently tossed his phone onto the concrete.

"Manny won't call you back. He's dead and you know it," Lily flatly told him.

Luke angrily glared at his cousin, thrusting his phone onto the ground once again.

"I'll handle this myself." Jay declared.

He walked towards his fuming grandson, who was now kneeling on the ground, looking downward and pulling his hair.

"Luke. LUKE!" Jay cried as he grabbed his grandson's shoulders.

Luke looked at his grandfather with tears spilling out of his brown eyes.

"Manny's not responding to anything. I've been calling and texting him all night! I also messaged him on Facebook and left at least a dozen voicemails. It's not like him to ignore me!" he yelled as he snatched his newly cracked phone.

Jay tightly hugged his grandson.

"M-Manny was the best friend I ever had. I-I don't k-know what I'm gonna do without him. I literally just talked to him last night! He t-told me how excited he was for that Halloween party and g-gave me advice about asking a girl I like at school out. Manny can't be dead, he just can't!" Luke yelled through his tears, hugging Jay back.

"I completely understand how you feel. Manny was such a wonderful and bright young man. He was such a precious son to me. I would do anything to bring him back home..."

"Me too..."

The rest of the family watched Luke and Jay with sadness, still struggling to come to terms with their shocking loss. Once Jay and Luke were ready to walk inside, everyone returned into the dimly lit house to resume watching the movie and remembering the young, but old soul that was lost far too soon. A large black cloud covered the bright crescent moon, marking the beginning of a new, dark chapter for the Pritchett-Dunphy-Tucker family.


End file.
